Was misled by an aggressive call centre into saying Id injured

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Was misled by an aggressive call centre into saying I'd injured myself in an accident. After being repeatedly pestered to go to a medical I decided to withdraw from the process. Now a solicitors firm I have never spoken to is trying to charge me £900. They have done no work for me. How can I fight this?

are these costs incurred by the solicitors or are they just chasing you on behalf of the company?

Customer: they say incurred by them

Customer: it's the solicitors themselves that are pursuing me

Customer: a firm called Clinch Solicitors based in Manchester

Ben Jones :

ok let me get my response ready please

Customer: ok

Ben Jones :

The first issue is what you had agreed to at the outset, whether you were misled in any way or if you genuinely signed up to certain services but just did not take the time to look at the details.

If you were misled or there was no clarity/transparency on what you were signing up for and things were hidden from you, misadvertised, etc then it could be an unfair consumer term and may be unlawful or at least unenforceable. This is something that would b challenged in one of two ways – if they make a claim against you then by raising this as a defence in the small claims court where this would be heard, or even considering Trading Standards to examine their practices.

Another consideration is whether the solicitors have followed the SRA Code of Conduct which they have to abide by. The rules on working with clients are here:

As you can see there are plenty of requirements dealing with fee arrangements and the transparency needed from a solicitor when they engage a client so if they never discussed these with you they could be in breach of the Code and that is a regulatory matter you can take up with the Legal Ombudsman.

Customer: so should I just ignore the letter and invoice and wait to see if they make a claim against me and take it from there

Customer: or should i reply and dispute the invoice and perhaps send a without prejudice letter under separate cover offering to settle for a much more reasonable sum

Ben Jones :

try and pre-empt their moves and not just wait for claim but point out why you should not ay and why a claim may not succeed so an early dispute could be the best approach, because if it does not work then the claim may come anyway but at least you have the opportunity to try and resolve this first

Customer: how much would you charge to handle this for me?

Customer: ive actually penned some replies but would want them reviewed

Ben Jones :

we cannot take on clients via this site unfortunately, we can only provide information as above, you have to independently find someone who may take this on, although at this stage ou may not need a solicitor, not unless it goes to court and even then the fees are not that large you may spend more on lawyers than on what is pursued

Customer: ok, i'll have a go at redrafting my reply based on the advice youve given

Customer: do you think sending a without prejudice letter at the same time offering to settle is a good idea or not?

Ben Jones :

that is certainly an option but only if you are prepared to pay something. It is not binding until accepted by both parties

Customer: ok

Customer: last question, can i save this conversation so i can refer back to it

Ben Jones :

You have a few options: a) If you see a 'share' button and hover over it you can see the option to print. b) You could copy and paste this conversation into a Word document or equivalent. You can then save and/or print it and refer to it in the future as necessary.c) This conversation will be stored in your account on this site so you may return to view it or do any of the above at any time

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